فَٱجْتَبَـٰهُ رَبُّهُۥ فَجَعَلَهُۥ مِنَ ٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ
Fajtabaahu rabbuhoo faja'alahoo minas saaliheen
But his Lord chose him and placed him among the righteous.
The companion of the fish appears two verses earlier as a warning to the Prophet, and the passage then turns and honours that same man. The caution was aimed at a single moment of impatience rather than at Yunus himself, which is why reproach and choosing can stand three lines apart. Ijtaba belongs with words for gathering in, water collected into a cistern or revenue brought to a treasury.